Established in 1969 by combining the once separate Robbery Division and Homicide Division, today’s Robbery-Homicide Division is comprised of approximately 110 sworn and civilian personnel under the command of Captain III William P. Hayes. RHD is comprised of five sections (Robbery, Homicide, Special Assault, Cold Case Homicide, and Special Investigation Sections), each under the supervision of a lieutenant and tasked with investigating or providing surveillance support for a wide variety of select crimes that are often high profile in nature. RHD detectives attend quarterly meetings with detectives throughout the City, where crime trends, suspect information and investigative techniques are discussed to ensure that investigations of a serious nature are shared across geographic boundaries. The sections also serve as liaisons between other law enforcement agencies regarding cases of mutual interest and, when required, orchestrate multi-divisional and/or multi-agency task force investigations.

The following is a list of the RHD sections and their investigative responsibilities:

Robbery Special Section (RSS)

The Robbery Special Section is responsible for investigating the following on a City-wide basis:

• Extortions or threats of extortion when:

o a prolonged investigation is required, and
o the extortion does not involve a juvenile as the suspect or victim, and
o the suspect has threatened to do unlawful injury to the person or property of another;

• Extortions by any means, including explosives, involving an adult or juvenile victim or suspect and the extortion is directed against a bank, bank employee, bank messenger, federally insured credit union, savings and loan institution, or armored car facility;

• Kidnappings when:

o There is the potential for serious bodily injury or death; or
o The facts indicate a connection to a major Citywide problem; or
o A prolonged investigation is required, or
o The investigative resources required exceed geographic Area detective division capabilities, or
o A ransom demand is anticipated or has been made

The Gang Homicide Unit (GHU) targets specific gangs and their involvement with certain criminal activity including, but not limited to, murder and other associated gang related crimes. There is also a full-time Crime Intelligence Analyst assigned to the unit to assist with telephone call data analysis, case charting, and link analysis. The GHU has specific knowledge of and experience with federal Racketeering Influence Corrupt Organization (RICO) prosecutions, and a great deal of experience in preparing court orders and search warrants to obtain business and telephone records related to Dialed Number Recorders (DNR), cell site towers, cell phone tracking, text message retrieval, and state and federal wiretap applications.

Special Assault Section (SAS)

The Special Assault Section is notified when any of the following crimes are committed in the City, but only assumes the following investigations at the discretion of the Commanding Officer, RHD.

• Sexual assault related homicides;

• Sexual assaults during:

o Hot prowl burglary;
o Business burglary;
o Home invasion robbery;

• Sexual assaults committed by a stranger when a firearm is seen;

• Sexual assaults committed by a stranger where the victim is admitted to a hospital due to injuries sustained during the assault;

• Sexual assaults committed by a stranger where the victim is kidnapped by being forced into a vehicle and transported to a secondary location;

• Sexual assaults where the identity of the victim or suspect is of a high profile nature;

• Serial sexual assaults;

• “Cold case” sexual assaults.

NOTE: A “cold case” sexual assault is defined as any unsolved sexual assault in the City that was committed more than two years ago, and has no significant leads, and is no longer being actively investigated by Area or Bureau detectives based on a lack of solvability factors and/or workload.

Cold Case Homicide Special Section (CCSS)

A “cold case” homicide is defined as any unsolved homicide in the City that was committed more than five years ago, and has no significant leads, and is no longer being actively investigated by Area detectives based on a lack of solvability factors and/or workload.

The Cold Case Special Section is primarily responsible for the following:

• Submitting requests to Scientific Investigations Division (SID) for various types of analysis;

• Submitting annual requests for grant funds to the National Institute of Justice.

Special Investigation Section (SIS)

The Special Investigation Section (SIS) is the Department's tactical surveillance unit. The primary objective of SIS is to determine if a suspect(s) under surveillance is connected to the crime(s) under investigation, and, if probable cause exists to arrest, to locate and arrest the suspect(s). Although assigned to RHD, SIS is available to any Department entity seeking surveillance on active criminals/crimes.

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